How To Travel For Free

Ever wondered if you can travel for free? Not only in Europe but all around the world? Well, there’s a way and I sound like a cheap ad! But really, there is. Aside from the opportunity of being sent onshore (since most jobs are being outsourced in the Philippines) for knowledge training or shadowing, there is another way to travel abroad for free… or in a much lower cost. I was lazily searching for ways to have my euro trip without spending a lot of money and saw a list of volunteer programs around Europe, Asia and Africa. Check out these sites for volunteer programs,

The volunteer work has registration fee usually amounting to $500 to cover for food and lodging. All other expenses such as airfare and extras will be shouldered by the volunteer. Other volunteering work has a weekly allowance while most have none, so saving or bringing enough amount of money is still a need but not as much as you would if you go for vacation/backpacking alone.

One of the things I read is that the Austrian embassy is the friendliest among the European embassies, so you might want to apply your Schengen visa here and make Vienna as your point of entry and your point of exit would probably be Paris or Italy. Always always make sure that the point of entry/exit should be the most convenient places to get around or reach other Schengen countries.

So let’s say your point of entry is Vienna, Austria. From here, you can decide if you want to go north or south or go all around. This is how your travel itinerary might look like if you go from Vienna, Austria to north and end in Rome, Italy.

In between the stops, you can find a volunteer program and apply for it. Usually, volunteer programs run for a week, or two, or sometimes 3 months, or a year. Summertime is when most festivals are held, so you might want to check that out if you like art, organizing events and the likes.

One example is THE 2015 TRANSEUROPA FESTIVAL, is a unique transnational festival of culture, arts and politics, taking place in more than 13 cities all over Europe. It promotes political and cultural exchange across Europe and collective action for an alternative idea of Europe.

Let’s say you’ll volunteer at the Transeuropa festival in Hildesheim, Germany. From Hildesheim, you can travel to Berlin, Brussels, Hanover and Amsterdam. After the volunteer program in Germany and if you want to go to Paris, then you can find another volunteer program in Paris and you can visit two or three places right then. And since Schengen countries can be traveled by train in a reasonable cost, you can jump from one country or volunteer program from another. For train schedules/routes, you can check Rome2Rio (I love this website!).

I’m planning to take a break from work for a year, maybe around late 2016 or 2017 and just immerse myself into this kind of life. I think that’s enough time to muster up courage and a good amount of savings. After 2017, I’ll be a little older and will be less braver to take risks (judging from my character), so it will be on 2017 or never. So if you’re looking for any way to fly out and see the world while making it a better place and yourself a better person, then go click those links and you might find something to your fancy.

Remember that in the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take. If not now, when?

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Great tips! I am living and working in the Maldives. I also know of volunteer programs here as well. I say get out of your comfort zone, explore and live, you never know what’s ahead of you or who you might meet. Happy future travels!!

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Kim is a programmer at day and a wannabe-writer and traveler whenever she has free time. She dreams of quitting her job and wander in places around the world working as a part-timer in various decent jobs.